The invention relates to an electric switch including a stator having a plurality of contact studs spaced apart over its external surface, each stud passing through the stator and emerging on its inner surface, a shaft adapted so as to move inside the stator and having at least one contact stud adapted for cooperating with the studs of the stator, and a connector comprising a pin holder and a plurality of juxtaposed pins, each pin having a front portion adapted for receiving a mating pin connected to the device to be operated by the switch and a rear portion by which it is connected to one of said contact studs of the stator.
The invention relates more particularly to a switch of this kind used in the low current field (0.5 to 3 amps) for controlling a large number of electric functions. For this it includes a fairly large number of connection pins, for example 20 or so.
In the prior technique, the connector is a standard commercial product which is fixed close to the stator on an appropriate support. Each connector pin is connected to one of the contact studs of the stator by means of a flexible connecting wire, soldered by one end to the pin and by the other to the contact stud.
When such a switch is intended to equip sophisticated equipment, such as equipment carried on board an aircraft, reliability thereof is the main concern. Now, the presence of a large number of soldered points increases the risk of failure of the switch. Similarly, the flexibility of the connection wires risk being the seat of vibrations which may lead to their breakage.
Unexpectedly, the applicant has envisaged designing a connector whose arrangement is specific and adapted to the type of switch considered which of course means that as many different connectors must be provided as there are different switches to be equipped. This solution, at first sight costly, proves to be economically satisfactory, as will be described hereafter.
The applicant has discovered that, by modifying the traditional arrangement of the contact studs of the stator and those of the connector pins, it is possible to provide a direct correspondence between the studs and the pins.